


whatever a sun will always sing is you

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Series: which grows higher than soul can hope [2]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Epilogue, Gen, hugging and crying, the skywalker family tragedy, the skywalker twins!, the skywalkers have no chill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 05:37:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17054177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: Leia has a lot of things to do, but first, she needs to speak with Luke.





	whatever a sun will always sing is you

**Author's Note:**

> A brief epilogue to [**deep as a secret nobody knows**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16663015). Title from E. E. Cummings.

Nobody stops Leia in the mess hall or on her way back to the conference room, though she gets some sidelong glances and hears some shocked whispers in her wake. She bites back an annoyed sigh. If only the rebellion's intelligence service were as quick and reliable as its gossipmongers.

She's starting to vibrate from all the caf she drank while standing in the mess, and also possibly from the adrenaline crash after ordering Darth Vader around and surviving.

She needs to speak with Luke. She needs to yell at Papa and General Kenobi and maybe Han if he's still hanging around, just on general principle, but she needs to speak with Luke _first_.

She finishes her third cup of caf and squares her shoulders before stepping back into the conference room.

"Leia." All four men speak in unison. Luke watches her with a hurt expression on his face. Han slumps in relief, General Kenobi sighs and relaxes, and Papa rushes over and sweeps her into his arms. 

She leans into him for a long moment, gathering her strength. "I'm all right. I need to speak with Luke."

"Leia—" Papa starts, but she shakes her head.

"You and General Kenobi will have your say—I have a lot of questions, Papa, and I expect some truthful answers." He looks abashed at that. "But first, I need to talk to Luke."

"You must not take whatever Vader told you at face value," Kenobi says. "The Sith are known to lure the unwary with their lies."

"He didn't tell me anything," she says truthfully. "I figured it out on my own." She nods her chin at Luke. "And I think you did, too."

Luke whirls on Kenobi. "Why didn't you _tell_ me?" he demands. His expression mutates from hurt to mutinous and something like recognition flickers across Kenobi's face.

"Luke, I—"

"Wait your turn, General," Leia says, though there's enough humor in it to lessen the sting. 

"Call me Ben, please. I haven't been a general in a long, long time."

"Thank you, Ben." Leia nods. "Luke and I need to talk." Nobody moves, and this time, she lets out the annoyed sigh. Apparently she can tell Darth Vader what to do and he'll listen, but the rest of the men in her life still require a bit more prodding. "Give us the room." She tacks on a, "Please," so Papa at least will give in.

And he does. Gracefully, even. "Come, Obi-Wan, there's much to discuss."

"Yes," Kenobi says, given them all a concerned look but following Papa's lead. "It appears there is."

The door slides shut behind them and Luke glances over at Han. "I'm just here for moral support," he says, holding up his hands, and not identifying which of them he's supporting. Probably both, if she's any judge of character. The only question is whether he's figured it out, too. It's probably better for him to know now. Keeping this kind of a secret can only lead to trouble—secrets have a way of getting out, and that could be catastrophic in this case. In more ways than one.

"Fine." She waves dismissively and takes a couple of steps closer to Luke. She takes both of his hands in hers. They're warm and callused and familiar, even though she's only really known him a few days. "Luke," she says, holding his gaze and smiling softly, "I'm your sister."

"I know," he replies, bewildered. "All my instincts were screaming at me while you were yelling at Vader. I think it was the Force."

Leia frowns. She doesn't know a whole lot about the Force, but something tells her she's going to have to learn, if only to keep on top of Luke and Vader.

Luke is still talking. "I should have known from the start. Why didn't Ben tell me?" He shakes his head. "I mean, I can guess why he didn't tell me about—Vader. Father." He stumbles over the word, sounding awed and hopeful and shocked all at once, and she promises herself that whatever her relationship with Vader ends up being, she won't bother Luke too much about how he chooses to conduct his own relationship with him. "But when Artoo showed us your message, he didn't say anything. He let me go on and on about how beautiful you were…" He trails off, flushing, and Leia shoots a warning glance at Han, who contents himself with a quiet snicker instead of whatever rude remark he was planning to make. "Not that you being my sister makes you any less beautiful," Luke scrambles. "You're very beautiful! But you're my sister." His fingers tighten around hers. "This is so embarrassing."

"Luke, we just turned Darth Vader into an asset to the Alliance and in the process discovered some shocking news about ourselves and our relationship. I wouldn't worry about a little embarrassment." She gives him another smile, this one teasing. "Not that I'm ever going to let you forget that you called me beautiful, little brother."

"Hey," he says, just like she'd hoped he would, "you don't know that you're older. I bet I'm older. Han, don't you think I'm older?"

"Don't look at me, kid. I'm not getting into a fight with a lady who just faced down Darth Vader and won."

"Listen to Han, Luke. For once he's giving you good advice."

"I give plenty of good advice, Your Worship. Not my fault nobody takes it."

Luke gives her a commiserating eyeroll and she laughs. He's her _brother_. No matter what else she's learned today, whatever secrets and lies are yet to be revealed, she's going to hug that knowledge to her heart. In fact, a hug sounds really good right now. She tugs her hands free of his so she can wrap her fingers in his shirt and tug him closer. He comes willingly, his arms tight around her and her head tucked under his chin, and it feels like home.

"I'm glad you're my sister," Luke says fiercely to the top of her head. "And we're going to get Father back, too. I just know it."

"Normally, I'd tell you not to get your hopes up, but after what just happened here today—"

"What _you_ did," he insists, and Han echoes him.

"I think anything might be possible, if we're together."

"That include me, Your Highnessness?"

Luke lets go of her so he can turn and grin at Han. "Of course."

"My name is Leia," she says, glaring at him around Luke's shoulder.

"I know." Han's smile for once is genuine—he looks happy for them, which she hadn't really expected. Then the smile widens into a teasing grin. "Hey, does this mean Luke is some sort of highness too?"

"No," Leia says, and then thinks about Padmé Amidala, and amends it to, "I don't know. Maybe. Our birth mother was a queen."

"A queen?" Luke repeats, sounding more shocked by this than by the revelation about Vader. And then she realizes that he probably knows Vader's history, who he was when he was Anakin Skywalker. 

"An elected queen, but a queen nonetheless," Leia replies. "I only found out before the Battle of Scarif—Papa told me to tell Vader, in case I was captured."

"He knew," Luke says. "He and Ben both _knew_."

She puts a hand on Luke's elbow. "You're angry. I understand. I am too. If I had known more, I might have—" She shakes her head, forcing down the memories of Vader's intrusion in her mind. She'd made the decision she thought was right based on the information she'd had at the time. It's no one's fault but Vader's that he tortured her. "But clearly they had their reasons and—" She hesitates; Luke's spoken a little bit about his aunt and uncle, how they raised him, how he lost them. And she understands that they were reluctant to call themselves his parents, though they were, for all intents and purposes. And it's obvious that General Kenobi also cares deeply about him (about her, too, maybe, in the abstract—he doesn't know her and she doesn't know him, so she can't say for sure), too. "I think it's hard sometimes for our parents to see us as adults."

Luke snorts. "That's for sure."

"That doesn't mean they love us any less. Just that they're more protective." Leia's had to learn that lesson more than once over the years, and her parents with her. 

Luke blinks at that. "I—Okay, I guess I can see that, but—" He sighs. "I guess I can listen to their reasons before I start making accusations." His mouth twists. "I know he's our father, but I don't want to be like Vader."

"Nobody should want to be like Vader," she replies. "After today, I'm not sure even _Vader_ wants to be like Vader." She shrugs a shoulder. "I'm angry about it, too. But like I said, I think we should hear them out."

"Yeah, okay." Luke slings an arm over her shoulders. "And no matter how I feel about how I found out, I'll always be happy that you're my sister."

"Me too." Leia leans up and presses a kiss to his cheek. "Now, let's see what they have to say for themselves."

*

Papa and General Kenobi—Ben, Leia thinks, she's going to go have to get used to calling him Ben the way Luke does—tell them basically the same story they'd told Vader: someone named Yoda suggested separating them after they were born to hide them from the Emperor. 

"But that doesn't explain why you told me Vader murdered my father," Luke points out.

Ben sighs. "Because when your father fell to the dark side, he ceased to be the good man Anakin Skywalker was. So what I told you was true, Luke, from a certain point of view." He shakes his head. "We were afraid he would try to corrupt you the way the Emperor corrupted him. Anakin loved your mother very much, and Palpatine used it against him. When he raised a hand to her, it was as if he were a different person altogether. I didn't expect..." He trails off, still shaking his head. "Perhaps I should have." He strokes his beard absently, his voice low. "He always did cling to his attachments too fiercely. Perhaps there is a way back. If anyone could find it, it would be him."

Leia exchanges a glance with Luke, who looks sad and enthralled at the same time. 

"You still should have told me—told us," he insists.

"And I would have, when the time was right," Ben replies. "You weren't ready. I still don't think you are, but what's done is done, and alas, the galaxy has never consulted with _me_ about such things." His voice is wry and sad. He looks at Leia. "You are a remarkable young woman, Your Highness, and you resemble your mother quite closely."

"He said," Leia swallows hard around a sudden lump in her throat, "he said she would be proud of me. He said he was, too." She raises her hands and drops them back into her lap helplessly. She still doesn't know what to _do_ with that.

Luke gives her a squeeze and Papa reaches out and touches her cheek. "Your mother and I _are_ very proud of you, Leia, even if we don't say it very often. And I know Padmé would be, too." He smiles at Luke. "And I look forward to getting to know you, as well, Luke."

Luke blushes. "Thank you, sir."

"All this hugging and crying is great," says Han, "but don't you have a base to evacuate? Vader might be interested in playing happy families now that he knows he's got kids," and Leia thinks the incredulous look on Han's face as he says this is hilarious, "but he still reports to the Emperor, and from what you're saying, _he's_ not gonna be happy about any of this." Han makes a circular motion with his hand, as if to encompass everything that's happened over the last few days. "And if Vader was the only survivor of the Death Star, that goes double."

"I don't believe we've met," Papa says, giving Han a skeptical once-over. "You are?"

"Han Solo, captain of the _Millennium Falcon_." Han gives him an unctuous grin. "She made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs." 

Papa looks at her, baffled, and she shrugs. "He's been helpful."

"And his co-pilot is an old friend," Ben says, which seems to come as a surprise to both Han and Luke. "Chewbacca is well known to the Jedi. Or what's left of us. He is trustworthy, and he vouched for Captain Solo."

Han looks like he doesn't know how to respond to that, so Leia decides to give him one final shock.

"But he's right," she says, "though this will be the first, last, and only time I ever admit that." She shoots a glance at him and he mimes a bow. "We have an evacuation to complete. If Vader betrays us, we'll deal with that, but I don't think he will." Now she looks at Luke, who nods firmly in response. The two of them together will handle Vader, and for now, at least, he's shown himself willing to be handled. "I have a good feeling about it."


End file.
